Anne-Marie Clark

Anne-Marie Clark (nee Yerks), 57, of Royal Oak, MI, died on December 25, 2025, after a long illness. She was born in East Lansing, MI, to Eldred and Ann (nee Bailey) Yerks. She grew up in Michigan, Virginia, Iowa, and North Carolina.

Anne-Marie received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Writing & Editing from North Carolina State University (1992) and a Masters in Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from George Mason University (1996). Always fond of education, she also accumulated more learning certificates than can be counted and was two classes shy of receiving a bachelor's degree in graphic design from Southern New Hampshire University.

Anne-Marie met Patrick Clark at a festival in June, 2011. They were so confident in each other that they bought a house together one year later, became engaged a year after that, and were married a year later. They supported each other's interests, made their home a beautiful place to live with lots of elbow grease, and schemed great vacations to squeeze in between her university semesters and his automotive launches.

Boundlessly creative and with an uncanny ability to remember names, she was at home both in large college classrooms teaching writing and writing novels with intricate plots and multiple characters.

She taught at the University of Michigan - Dearborn and Southern New Hampshire University, where she retired in 2025 after 12 years teaching students in the graduate English department. But her jobs numbered so many more than teaching, and she took pride in having three or four at the same time. She crafted website content and blogs for businesses and doctor's offices. She wrote articles for magazines, graded GRE essays, sold Viking sewing machines inside a Michaels store, seamstressed for a wedding production company, worked in marketing at Real Estate One's central office, and even taught AI how to write.

She wrote many short stories and novels including Dream Junkies, LUSH, and the yet-to-be-published Not That Fat. She loved using her imagination to build the world, characters, and plot of each one. She spread her love of writing by organizing group writing sessions with other local authors. She also enjoyed presenting at writing seminars, most recently "Writing Clothing" at the Winter Wheat annual festival.

Anne-Marie enjoyed parties with her friends, Jazzercise and its people, herb gardening, cooking complicated dishes using recipes only as general guidance, traveling with her husband, listening to the latest pop music, knitting, and sewing. So often her own clothes were customized using one of her many sewing machines, or she simply made her own clothes. Last Christmas she knit winter hats for her husband's entire extended family.

Anne-Marie loved cats and warmly tended to her dear pet Morris, and later, Kramer.

She and her family are deeply grateful to the caring, sympathetic, and highly skilled doctors and nurses of Corewell Health Beaumont Hospital who helped her battle her illness, as well as to the kind and merciful team that is Michigan Palliative & Hospice Care.

Anne-Marie is survived by her mother, Ann (Rick) Glasgow of Jackson, MI, her husband, Patrick Clark, of Royal Oak, MI, and many dear uncles, aunts, and cousins. She is preceded in death by her father, Eldred.

A memorial service will take place on January 2, 2026 at Wm. Sullivan and Son Funeral Directors, 705 W. 11 Mile Rd (4 blks E of Woodward) Royal Oak, Michigan,with visitation at 1 PM and a service at 4 PM. In lieu of flowers, please kindly donate to the American Cancer Society.